Explain the following (a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers (b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical coloniser. (c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people. (d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.
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Answer:
(a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers
(a) As the middle classes became more affluent, women got more leisure time to read and write novels. Also, novels began to explore the world of women, their emotions, identities, experiences and problems. Domestic life became an essential subject of novels—a field women had an authority to speak about.
(b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical coloniser.
(b) Robinson Crusoe’s actions that make us see him as a typical colonizer are many. Shipwrecked on an island inhabited by colored people, Crusoe treats them as inferior beings. He is portrayed as “rescuing” a native and then making him a slave. He gives him the name Friday, without even caring to ask for his name. Colonized people were seen as barbaric and primitive, and colonialism became their self-professed civilize. Crusoe was a direct representation of this ideology of colonizers.
(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people.
(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people because of the introduction of circulating libraries, low-priced books, and also because of the system of hiring out of books by the hour. This made books easily available to the poor people, who could not afford books earlier due to high costs and absence of lending libraries.
(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.
(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause because the novel was a powerful medium for expressing social defects and suggesting remedies for the same. It also helped establish a relationship with the past. Since people from all walks of life could read novels, it was an easy way to popularize anti-colonial ideas. It also helped bring about a sense of national unity among the people.
(a) As the middle classes became more affluent, women got
more leisure time to read and write novels. Also, novels began
to explore the world of women, their emotions, identities,
experiences and problems. Domestic life became an essential
subject of novels- a field women had an authority to speak
about.
(b) Robinson Crusoe's actions that make us see him as a typical
coloniser are many. Shipwrecked on an island inhabited by
coloured people, Crusoe treats them as inferior beings. He is
portrayed as "rescuing" a native and then making him a slave.
He gives him the name Friday, without even caring to ask for his
name. Colonised people were seen as barbaric and primitive,
and colonialism became their self-professed civiliser. Crusoe was
a direct representation of this ideology of colonisers.
(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people because of the introduction of circulating libraries, low-
priced books, and also because of the system of hiring out of
books by the hour. This made books easily available to the poor
people, who could not afford books earlier due to high costs and
absence of lending libraries.
(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause because
the novel was a powerful medium for expressing social defects
and suggesting remedies for the same. It also helped establish a
relationship with the past. Since people from all walks of life
could read novels, it was an easy way to popularise anti-colonial
ideas. It also helped bring about a sense of national unity among
the people.
hope it helps you